Planetary gear transmission for drilling apparatus



Aug. 16, 1955 A. ARUTUNOFF PLANETARY GEAR TRANSMISSION RoR DRILLINGAPPARATUS Original F'led Oct. l5, 1949 ..7 i 1 f *A A mi www? .IRIik/,NA

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A @034 www w mm ma United States Patent Office Patented Aug. 16, 1,955

PLANETARY GEAR TRANSlVIISSION FOR DRILLING APPARATUS Armais Arutnnol,Bartlesville, Okla.

Original application October 15, 1949, Serial No. 121,579. Divided andthis application May 18, 1951, Serial No. 227,047

1 Claim. (Cl. 74-801) The present invention relates in general to thedrilling of oil wells, and it deals more particularly with animprovement in a drilling tool of the type shown in my co-pendingapplications Serial Nos. 711,959, led November 23, 1946, now Patent No.2,609,182, and 60,709 led November 18, 1948, now Patent No. 2,662,735.The present application is a division of my copending application SerialNo. 121,579 iiled October 15, 1949, now Patent No. 2,654,572.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved form of reductiongearing and means for sealing the same against intrusion of drilling uidor other foreign matter. To this end I employ multi-stage planetarygearing and a novel arrangement for maintaining the successive stages inproper working relationship.

Other and further objects of the invention, together with the structuralfeatures of novelty whereby the objects are achieved, will appear in thecourse of the following description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification andare to be read in conjunction therewith, the figure is a longitudinalcross section including the planetary gearing in the lower portion of adrilling unit.

The construction is provided with a downwardly extending motor shaft 7connected by means of a splined coupling 18 to the pinion shaft 19 whichdrives a vertically aligned hollow shaft 20 through multi-stageplanetary gearing now to be described.

The latter gearing is enclosed in a stationary housing 22 spacedinwardly from the shell B2 and supported by the connecting frame member24 which also serves to form the lower end of the inner housing. Theupper end of the said housing is closed by a cap 26 through which shaft19 enters, the entrance being sealed by packing 28 around the shaft.

The rst stage of planetary gearing comprises a sun gear 30 on the lowerend of shaft 19 and a plurality of planet gears 32 meshing with the sungear and also with the internal teeth 34 of a ring gear formed integralwith the housing 22. The planet gears, arranged in a circle about thesun gear in conventional fashion, are carried by a yoke 36 which has adownwardly extending shaft on which is xed the sun gear 38 of the secondstage of planetary gearing.

The second stage is like the first in that it has planet gears 40meshing with the sun gear 38 and also with teeth 42 of a ring gearformed on the inside of housing 22. The planet gears of the second Stageare carried by yoke 44 which has downwardly extending stub connected tothe hollow shaft 20 for driving same.

As will readily be understood by those versed in the art, rotation ofthe sun gear 30 causes planet gears 32 to travel in an orbit around thesun gear, turning yoke 36 and gear 38 at reduced speed. Gear 38 in turncauses planet gears 40 to travel in an orbit and rotate yoke 44 andshaft 20 at still slower speed.

The high speed driving shaft 19 is supported by a bearing 46, and thelow speed driven shaft 20 by a bearing 48. An important feature residesin the provision of ,a bearing S0 to which the lower end of theintermediate speed shaft (i. e., the downwardly extending shaft of yoke36) is secured by a bolt 52. Except for this arrangement, the upper yoke36 would be perfectly free to shift axially relative the lower yoke andalso relative the upper sun gear 30, a situation which would give riseto deleterious bouncing, hammering and excessive wear on the parts; butthis is prevented by the tying of the two yokes together as regardstheir vertical spacing, the arrangement nevertheless permitting theyokes to turn at different ring speeds as is required in their normaloperation.

Aflixed to shaft 19 are the impellers 54 of a multistage centrifugalpump 56. In operation, this pump draws liquid from the space in the wellsurrounding the unit. After passing through pump 56, the uid isdischarged under pressure into the annular space 58 around housing 22and ows through ducts 60 and apertures 62 into the hollow shaft 20.

For lubrication and protection of the bearings thus far described, aswell as of the planetary gearing and associated parts, the housing 22 islled with lubricating oil or light grease introduced through nipple 8|).This nipple communicates with a duct 82 through which the lubricant mayflow upwardly through and around bearing 48, through and around theplanetary gearing, lling the housing completely to the top cap 26. Duct82 also leads downwardly to a piston chamber 84 which in turn, throughapertures 86, communicates with the annular space 88 around shaft 20,and hence with the bearings 72.

Piston 90 in said chamber is urged upwardly by a coiled compressionspring 92 supplemented by the pressure of duid admitted behind thepiston through aperture 94. The latter aperture connects with a chamber96 formed on the exterior of the tool by a shallow recess covered byplate 98, this chamber being connected by a duct 100 with the iluidpassageway maintained under pressure by the discharge of centrifugalpump 56.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one welladapted to attain all of the ends and objects hereinbefore set forth,together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherentto the apparatus.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of theclaim.

Inasmuch as many possible embodiments of the invention may be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood thatall matter herein Set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is tobe interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A multi-stage planetary power transmission between a driving shaft and acoaxial driven shaft comprising a yoke connected to one of said shaftsand carrying planet gears, a second yoke coaxial with said rst yokecarrying planet gears and also carrying a sun gear meshing with saidfirst planet gears, an axial passageway through said second yoke, anaxial bolt extending through said passageway and having one endextending past the end of the sun gear on said second yoke into a socketformed in the adjacent face of said first yoke, a thrust bearing in saidsocket secured respectively to said socket and to the end of the bolt,stop means on the other end of said bolt bearing against said secondyoke, said bolt, stop means and thrust bearing locking said yokestogether against relative axial movement, a sun gear carried by theother shaft meshing with the planet gears 3 carried by said second yoke,and a stationary reaction 2,186,064 orbit gear in mesh with each of saidplanet gears. 2,286,236 2,460,629 y References Cited in the iile of'this`patent 2,497,559 UNITED :STATES PATENTS 5 2,552,859

936,870 Duntley et a1. Oct. A12, k1,909

4 Dekker Jan. 9, 1940 Scott June 16, 1942 Fawick Feb. 1, 1949 Davis etal. Feb. 14, 1950 Nardone May 15, 1951

